The Joint Subcommittee on Public Safety held a hearing Wednesday on bipartisan legislation to curb police profiling in Oregon. House Bill 2355 will require law enforcement departments to begin collecting and retaining standardized demographic data on all officer-initiated pedestrian and traffic stops. The bill also requires mandatory training in cultural competency and implicit bias for all state and local law enforcement officers in Oregon and establishes a statewide system to hold law enforcement departments accountable for profiling practices.

After the Joint Subcommittee on Public Safety votes on HB 2355, it will then move to the Joint Committee on Ways and Mean before receiving a floor vote in the Oregon House.

Following the hearing, Senators James Manning and Lew Frederick issued the following statements:

Senator James Manning:

“Although slow, we have made steady progress in Oregon to improve community-police relations, yet there remains a lot more work to do. In the City of Eugene for example, we developed the first policy prohibiting profiling which holds all members of our police department accountable against profiling based on ethnicity, color, religion, nationality, sexual identity, and other protective classes. Measures to prohibit police departments and law enforcement agencies from engaging in profiling statewide have gained support. However, currently tracking programs or policies need more implementation to ensure full accountability.

“HB 2355 will provide the data collection, training, oversight, and accountability mechanisms required to ensure that we put an end to profiling in communities across the state. By recognizing this problem, tracking our progress, we join 40 other states by passing legislation prohibiting profiling by police department and law enforcement agencies all aim to make our communities safer and more welcoming for all Oregonians. Said by Senator Manning.”

Senator Lew Frederick:

"Over the past two years, we've heard from people around the state, sharing their experiences with profiling and calling for the resources we need to end this harmful practice. Law enforcement officials, Attorney General Rosenblum, and members of the community have been working together for months to come up with solutions that will create real change for Oregonians. Through their collective efforts, we have a strong bill before us that I’ll be proud to vote for."